Cardinal Walter Kasper says the shortage of priests has become critical. "Priests today are often managers with four or five parishes to look after. They have no time for pastoral work."

Cardinal Walter Kasper has told German media he believes Pope Francis favors ordaining married men of proven virtue (known by the Latin term, viri probati), but is also sure the pope wants to leave the decision up to individual bishops’ conferences.

“The (vocation) situation differs so widely in different parts of the world that a uniform worldwide solution is not possible,” the cardinal said on April 6th in a long interview with the German Church’s Internet portal katholisch.de.

The occasion was the 60th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood.

“Each bishops’ conference must first decide whether it is in favor (of ordaining married men) and describe how it intends to go about this. And then it must bring its proposals before the pope,” said the cardinal, a world-class theologian known to be close to Francis.

“I have the impression that if their application is well-founded, it will be met positively. The ball is therefore back in the bishops conferences’ court,” he said.

The cardinal said that as far as Germany and many parts of the Western world are concerned it is “imperative and most urgent” to discuss the possibility of ordaining viri probati because the shortage of priests has become drastic.

“We simply cannot carry on with the situation as it is at present. Priests today are often managers with four or five parishes to look after. They have no time for pastoral work,” the 84-year-old cardinal said.

“One cannot just go on clustering more and more parishes together into ever larger entities. And importing priests from India or Africa is not really a solution,” said the cardinal, who headed the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart from 1989-99.

“Some are good but in many cases, the cultural differences are too great,” he said.

After spending a decade as a diocesan bishop, Kasper was called to Rome in 1999 to be vice-president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. He then took over as head of that office from 2001-2010.

In his recent interview, the cardinal spoke of the status quo of ecumenism today, saying great progress has been made compared to when he was ordained 60 years ago. But he said one of the biggest and most urgent problems still to be solved is the issue of different Christian denominations sharing the Eucharist.

He said that in the meantime he hoped an interim solution could be found on a case-to-case basis for couples in mixed marriages.

“We want them to attend Mass together and so one can hardly separate them at the altar. It is also so important that children see their parents go to communion together,” the cardinal said.

“The condition would be that the Protestant partner shares our perception of the Eucharist; that is, that he or she should understand the Eucharist as an ordinary Catholic understands it - and not necessarily all the theological details,” he added.

Asked if the altercations over the post-synodal exhortation Amoris Laetitia and the opposition the pope was facing in some quarters posed a danger for Francis, Kasper recalled that there have always been disagreements in the Church.

“If everyone were of the same opinion that would be boring; and, anyway, an impossibility among thinking people,” the cardinal said.

“I don’t think the discussions are dangerous. They are a sign of life. They should, however, be conducted respectfully, and publishing fake editions of L’Osservatore Romano [which some critics of the pope did] is not the proper way to conduct an argument,” he added.

“Amoris Laetitia is clear and will gain acceptance,” Kasper predicted.

“A very large number of Catholics are glad that the pope has spoken so openly,” he claimed.

Cardinal Kasper said he was most grateful for the papal document because it is imperative to discuss sexuality, marriage and the family. These as subjects that affect everyone and are fundamental to society, he said.

He said Pope Francis’ positions on these issues are based on Gospel teaching and give people help and guidance.

Originally published on 12 April 2017

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